This is a pretty decent chocolate stout. It seems to thin out a bit quicker than I would like. But the character that is there is still pretty nice. Smooth. And overall pretty decent. Probably going to go down as my favorite beer from this brewery. Glad to try it.

From the bottle: "Chocolate worth sharing Sanders Fine Chocolatiers since 1875"; "Brewed exclusively in Michigan with Sanders fine chocolate"; "In the fall of 2009, Detroit Brewing Company began tinkering with their Pub Classic Smooth Cream Stout. A chance meeting, over a few beers, with the folks from Sanders brought the final sweet ingredient. Our brewer found the best way to combine Stout and Sanders chocolate to create the dark, satisfying aroma and of a fine Stout Ale with the restrained richness and elegance of the hand selected cocoa used by Sanders Fine Chocolatiers in Detroit since 1875."; "Detroit Beer Co.'s Sanders Chocolate Stout is sold from November through March."

The fizzy, foamy finger of deep-tan head did not last long before turning into wisps. Color was a deep, dark-brown with cola highlights at the edges. Nose was sweet chocolate, but nothing near the cloying sweetness of a previous beer. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, approaching a creaminess, but not quite achieving it. The taste was what I would imagine a sweet/chocolate stout to taste like - sweet but not cloying. This was more like a milk chocolate bar in that it was not terribly roasty and not terribly sweet, either. Finish was semi-sweet and very satisfying. A welcome brew on Christmas Eve.

12 oz bottle purchased in MI in August 2013 served in a Belgian snifter.

A: Pours very dark mahogany brown, looking near black in the glass; a deep ruby color is visible at the edges of the glass under bright light. The thin tan-colored head soon died down to a partial top coat and left only a bit of lacing.

Aroma: Rather sweet but attractive aroma of caramel and dark roasted malts. The aromas has some complexity as well, with suggestions of stewed raisins and other dark fruits and a hint of dark chocolate.

Flavor: Sweet, with hints of chocolate up front, and plenty of dark fruit mid-taste. Dark and milk chocolate reappear in the semi-sweet finish and lingers on for a while.

Aroma has some roast malt and coffee, but a sour note that kind of looms overall. Almost like cherries or red wine of some sort.

Taste does not really have the sour thankfully. Malty roast and then the chocolates come through. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate. Finishes pleasant but short with some cocoa. I wonder if they used some lactose in this one?

Thin, but almost creamy, an odd combination.

With the mellow flavors and slightly thinner body, this drinks pretty easy. The abv being a little higher hampers that though. In reality a good beginner chocolate stout.

This is an odd one. On the bottle it says "Brewed and bottled for Detroit Brewing Company by Detroit Rivertown Brewing Company", however, there is no such thing as Detroit Brewing Company..there is only Detroit Beer Company. I think they mislabeled this beer. ABV is not listed on the bottle, however I found a resource that states it's 7.8% ABV
http://www.mlive.com/kalamabrew/index.ssf/2010/11/michigans_detroit_brewing_co_a.html

This cost $1.80 for a 12oz single @ Jacks market. Pours out to a clear near black, forming a tall and creamy tan head like espresso crema, with excellent retention and a solid sheet of lace. The aroma is really good...I pick up black walnut, espresso, dark chocolate, vanilla bean, and dark fruits. The mouthfeel is very smooth and creamy, almost like a nitro tap, with a medium body. The taste is a recap of the aroma. There is a pleasant chalkiness about midway thru, and it's nicely balanced between the earthy bitterness , the malty sweetness, and the chocolate overtone. It's not a chocolate bomb like Sam Adams Chocolate Bock, but there is enough there to notice. There is a faint suggestion of kiwi fruit acidic tartness that warns of impeding infection as mentioned in the BA forums that some people have tasted. I wouldn't store this one. This peculiar tartness starts to become more noticeable by the middle of the glass and starts to limit it's drinkability.

A decent beer for the price, although I'm not confident of it's ability to last more than a few weeks. One is enough for me.

I picked up a six pack of Detroit Beer Company's Sanders Chocolate Stout a couple days ago for $10.99 at Meijers. I have never had a beer from Detroit Beer Co. but I have had Sanders Chocolate many times, so I figured I should try a beer that is brewed with it, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into an imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks OK, but it is quite plain looking, it's got all kind of information about the beer on the label, but no bottling date, I don't get it. It poured a dark brown/black color that had some ruby edges when held to the light with two fingers worth of tan head that died down to a thin layer that stayed till the end and left some spotty lacing. The color could be a little darker, but the head was nice.

S- The first thing that I pick up is loads of roasted malts that have a medium amount of sweetness and a slight charred aroma. There is a good amount of chocolate in the aroma that smells pretty similar to cocoa powder. It also had a slight coffee and dark fruit aroma with very light amount of earthy hops. It smells roasty and chocolaty but it's a little sweet.

T- The main player here is the malts that have just the right amount of sweetness and a nice heavy roast that gives this beer a nice roasty flavor, but the chocolate doesn't show up as much as it did in the aroma and takes a back seat to the roasted malts. Just like the aroma there's a slight amount of dark fruits and coffee. The finish has a very low amount of bitterness with a roasty aftertaste. I don't pick up any alcohol in this beer, it is well hidden. The flavors are good for a stout but there isn't enough chocolate for a Chocolate Stout.

M- Smooth, medium bodied, and it had medium amount of carbonation. The mouthfeel is on par for a American Stout.

Overall I thought this was an OK American Stout but it lacked that extra chocolaty flavor that should be in a beer that calls itself a Chocolate Stout, it had all those nice and roasty flavors I would expect from the style but it needs a heavier chocolate flavor to go with its name. This beer had pretty good drinkability, I wouldn't rule out having another one after I finish this one, the alcohol is well hidden and it goes down pretty smooth. What I liked most about this beer was the aroma and mouthfeel, the aroma had a nice chocolate presence to it, and the mouthfeel was what it should be for an American Stout. What I liked least about this beer was the lack of chocolate in the flavor, it needed about twice as much chocolate to be on par with Sam Adams Chocolate Bock and live up to it's name. I may buy this beer again when looking for a American Stout, but when I want a chocolaty beer I won't have this one in mind. This beer is worth a try, but don't expect to be wowed by its chocolate flavor. The stout base of this beer was nice but it didn't have enough chocolate in the flavor to do the Sanders name justice, they make some high quality chocolate but the Detroit Beer Co. didn't do a great job at showcasing it. I wasn't wowed by my first beer from Detroit Beer Co., so I don't have the greatest first impression for this brewery but I would still be willing to see what else they got. A much bigger dose of Sanders Chocolate may make this a pretty good beer.

Appearance: Aggressive pour yielded a three finger head that had an audible carbonation that died down pretty quickly to nothingness. Pitch black with tan bubbles and no lacing.

Smell: As the head was bubbling away, I got some really nice aromas that included a lot of caramel and cinnamon. As soon as the head was gone, mostly really dark malt aromas, and nothing too interesting.

Taste: As many others have said, disappointing. A roasted malt character is byfar the most noticeable taste, and one of the only ones. I don't really pick up any sort of coffee flavors, and no significant chocolate flavor, which is a bummer. Additionally, this drink more like a normal stout than a sweet stout, as it's really not sweet, doesn't have that silky mouthfeel I've come to expect from a milk/sweet stout (it's somewhere in the middle with a somewhat prickly carbonation), and it's just average.

For the style, this beer is all wrong. For the name of the beer itself, this beer is all wrong. If this were to have a different name (without "CHOCOLATE" in the title) and be classified as a normal stout, that'd be fine. Maybe I'm just splitting hairs, but oh well.

Sanders Chocolate Stout isn't at all a bad beer, but it's quite disappointing, given the name. I'm scoring the beer based on what I think of it, rather than the classified style or its name.